Appendix H –
COMP1 Interface Specifications
This appendix is included for those who want to attach the
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoders
to existing
systems that output raw data or simple data strings that are normally used in printing status logs on serial printers.
The
COMP1
Protocol
is designed to emulate one of the operational modes of the Motorola People Finder™
paging system.
A simple definition of the
COMP1
Protocol
is that the
COMP1
Protocol
allows raw
ASCII Data
to be sent to all
pagers in the Group one list of the
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoder’s
Group Database. The group lists
must be defined in
TAP
mode using the
InterPage
Z-500 Pro
Paging
Encoder Setup
software. The
COMP1
Interface supports paging messages up to 255 characters in length, contact monitoring, and timed messaging.
To configure your
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoders
to use the
COMP1
paging protocol, you may be
required to configure the com port settings in the paging encoder. Please refer to
Appendix B – Com Port
Settings
, for details on configuring communication protocols.
Your
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoders
typically communicates with a PC or other host device via RS-232
at 9600 Baud, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. The eighth data bit is ignored (no parity). You can configure the paging
system for other serial communication parameters.
The paging encoder maintains an input buffer, which can receive commands from the PC while paging messages
are being transmitted. The paging encoder encodes paging messages into
POCSAG
paging format and transmits
the encoded paging message through the internal radio transmitter. If the Carrier Detect function is enabled,
transmissions will be delayed while interfering signals are detected.
Control characters recognized by the paging encoder in
COMP1
Protocol
mode include:
CARRIAGE
RETURN
<CR>
$0D
LINEFEED
<LF>
$0A
Control characters generated by the
WaveWare Paging Encoder
in
COMP1
Protocol
mode when software flow
control mode is active include:
XON
<XON>
$13
XOFF
<XOFF>
$11
In
COMP1 Interface Protocol
, the
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoder
does not provide feedback response
signals on the serial port, other than flow control signals, when in Non-Verbose mode.
COMP1
is defined as a one
way (simplex) protocol. The Verbose mode available with the
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoder
provides a
serial port response, to allow software development and troubleshooting using a terminal software program.
The COMP1
operation is as follows:
When incoming data is detected on the serial port, one of three things will happen:
1)
A carriage return character is detected in the
Data stream
2)
A time period of approximately 10 seconds elapses after receipt of the last character on the serial port
3)
256 characters or more accumulate in the serial port input buffer. If any of these three events occur, the paging
system will strip any carriage return and linefeed characters and transmit the remainder of the
Data stream
to all
pagers defined in the encoder's pager database.
If the serial port input buffer becomes filled with greater than 1000 characters, the paging system will output either a
hardware or software flow control response, depending upon how Hardware/Software Flow Control is configured.
Once the serial port input buffer drops below 450 characters, the paging system will use flow control signals to
indicate that it is no longer busy and that additional data can be delivered to the serial port.
NOTE:
When using
COMP1
mode, please note that all data is transmitted to the pagers listed in group one of the
InterPage
Z-500 Series
Paging Encoder’s
pager database. When setting up for
COMP1
operation, you should
limit the pager quantity in the pager database to no more than a few pagers, in order to avoid excessive paging
transmissions.
This Completes the “COMP1 Interface Specifications”
